Drake - Certified Lover Boy ALBUM REVIEW
This has gotta be the worst album art I’ve seen in a very long time, just saying.
I gotta admit something here. This past week has been absolutely insane when it comes to this website. Two reviews in a row are some of the biggest albums of this decade so far, and it’s wild to think about that. Either way, I’ve been in the middle on Drake for a very long time. Yes, I understand how influential he’s been but his music has never truly clicked for me except for his earlier albums and mixtapes. Now, after this album was supposed to come out all the way back in January, Certified Lover Boy is here. It’s got a good amount of features from Lil Baby, Lil Durk, Giveon, Jay-Z, Travis Scott, Future, Young Thug, Yebba, 21 Savage, Project Pat, Tems, Ty Dolla $ign, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, and Kid Cudi. So, how did I feel about this? Let’s get into it.
Outside of full-on Drake stans, opinions on this have been pretty mixed overall. While I do agree with the notion that this is just another Drake album (side note: There aren’t any Kanye comparisons in here, go away), this isn’t that bad…? I’ve been seeing people call it trash, but it really isn’t. Yes, he has some pretty corny lines like the ‘You’re a lesbian, girl, me too’ one on “Girls Want Girls” and I enjoy some of the goofier tracks like “Way 2 Sexy” with Future and Young Thug, but there’s nothing about this that’s outright horrible. On the flip side, though, there really isn’t a lot here that’s all that mind-blowing either. I did find myself bored a couple times, but that happens with Drake’s best albums. As of late, it has been happening alarmingly more, though.
On the positives, that Beatles sample on “Champagne Poetry” is absolutely divine and is one of the most exciting parts of the album. It just sucks that that’s literally the first song on the album. “No More Friends in the Industry” is one of his most fiery performances in a while, firing actual shots at artists that aren’t subliminal, and I enjoy it when he does that. Drake’s writing here is just as it usually is for his last few albums: A little lovesick with an odd amount of corny, or ‘sus’ as the kids say, bars. The production here is actually quite nice, and the features are even nicer. Lil Wayne extends his insane feature run on “You Only Live Twice” with Rick Ross, Ty Dolla $ign joins Drake for “Get Along Better” (which happens to be one of Drake’s best R&B tracks ever), and dare I say that I thought Jay-Z’s verse on “Love All” is one of his best in a while. Fine, I’ll do one Donda comparison: Hov’s verse on here was better than on Kanye’s album.
I’m gonna be totally honest with you on something. If this was just off a first listen, this would be a whole lot more negative. While Certified Lover Boy may not be Drake’s best album, I ended up taking a good amount of songs from this. Of course, I have my reasons on why it isn’t the best and why I just want an entirely R&B album from him, but I’m not disappointed with what I got. You could call this Drake’s worst album and I wouldn’t argue with that. Hell, I even thought that after the first listen. After listening to it a couple more times, I’ve decided that Certified Lover Boy is just another Drake album, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
7/10
Listen here
YouTube Music
Certified Lover Boy is an OVO Sound release.
I gotta admit something here. This past week has been absolutely insane when it comes to this website. Two reviews in a row are some of the biggest albums of this decade so far, and it’s wild to think about that. Either way, I’ve been in the middle on Drake for a very long time. Yes, I understand how influential he’s been but his music has never truly clicked for me except for his earlier albums and mixtapes. Now, after this album was supposed to come out all the way back in January, Certified Lover Boy is here. It’s got a good amount of features from Lil Baby, Lil Durk, Giveon, Jay-Z, Travis Scott, Future, Young Thug, Yebba, 21 Savage, Project Pat, Tems, Ty Dolla $ign, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, and Kid Cudi. So, how did I feel about this? Let’s get into it.
Outside of full-on Drake stans, opinions on this have been pretty mixed overall. While I do agree with the notion that this is just another Drake album (side note: There aren’t any Kanye comparisons in here, go away), this isn’t that bad…? I’ve been seeing people call it trash, but it really isn’t. Yes, he has some pretty corny lines like the ‘You’re a lesbian, girl, me too’ one on “Girls Want Girls” and I enjoy some of the goofier tracks like “Way 2 Sexy” with Future and Young Thug, but there’s nothing about this that’s outright horrible. On the flip side, though, there really isn’t a lot here that’s all that mind-blowing either. I did find myself bored a couple times, but that happens with Drake’s best albums. As of late, it has been happening alarmingly more, though.
On the positives, that Beatles sample on “Champagne Poetry” is absolutely divine and is one of the most exciting parts of the album. It just sucks that that’s literally the first song on the album. “No More Friends in the Industry” is one of his most fiery performances in a while, firing actual shots at artists that aren’t subliminal, and I enjoy it when he does that. Drake’s writing here is just as it usually is for his last few albums: A little lovesick with an odd amount of corny, or ‘sus’ as the kids say, bars. The production here is actually quite nice, and the features are even nicer. Lil Wayne extends his insane feature run on “You Only Live Twice” with Rick Ross, Ty Dolla $ign joins Drake for “Get Along Better” (which happens to be one of Drake’s best R&B tracks ever), and dare I say that I thought Jay-Z’s verse on “Love All” is one of his best in a while. Fine, I’ll do one Donda comparison: Hov’s verse on here was better than on Kanye’s album.
I’m gonna be totally honest with you on something. If this was just off a first listen, this would be a whole lot more negative. While Certified Lover Boy may not be Drake’s best album, I ended up taking a good amount of songs from this. Of course, I have my reasons on why it isn’t the best and why I just want an entirely R&B album from him, but I’m not disappointed with what I got. You could call this Drake’s worst album and I wouldn’t argue with that. Hell, I even thought that after the first listen. After listening to it a couple more times, I’ve decided that Certified Lover Boy is just another Drake album, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
7/10
Listen here
YouTube Music
Certified Lover Boy is an OVO Sound release.
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